An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/ander

by Friedrich Kluge

ander, adjective, ‘other, different, second,’ from Middle High German ander, Old High German andar, ‘the other’; it corresponds to Gothic anþar, ‘the other,’ Old Icelandic annarr, Anglo-Saxon ôðer, English other, Dutch ander, Old Saxon âðar, ôðar. The meanings ‘the second, one of two, the other,’ are due to a comparative form (Aryan ánteros, ‘one of two,’ Latin alter). Compare the corresponding Sanscrit ántara-, ‘different from,’ Osset. ändär, ‘otherwise than, with the exception of,’ Lithuanian àntras, ‘the other.’ The root an- is proved by Sanscrit and Zend an-ya-, ‘another.’ With Old High German andar ‘other,’ is also connected Old High German antarôn, ‘to imitate.’